Mstislav I of Kiev

Biography

thumb|left|Portrait in the [[Tsarsky titulyarnik]], 1672 Mstislav was born in Turov. As his father's future successor, he reigned in Novgorod from 1088 to 1093 and (after a brief stint at Rostov) from 1095 to 1117. Thereafter, he was Monomakh's co-ruler in Belgorod Kievsky, and inherited the Kievan throne after his death. He built numerous churches in Novgorod, of which St. Nicholas Cathedral (1113), and the cathedral of St Anthony Cloister (1117) survive to the present day. Later, he would also erect important churches in Kiev, notably his family sepulchre at Berestovo and the church of the Assumption of the Mother of God in Podol.

Mstislav's life was spent in constant warfare with the Cumans (1093; 1107; 1111; 1129), Estonians (1111; 1113; 1116; 1130), Lithuanians (1131), and the princedom of Polotsk (1127; 1129). In 1096, he defeated his uncle Oleg of Chernigov on the Koloksha River, thereby laying foundation for the centuries of enmity between his and Oleg's descendants. Mstislav was the last ruler of a unified state, and upon his death, as the chronicler put it, "the land of Rus was torn apart". He died in Kiev, aged 55.

After his death, the state began to quickly disintegrate. At the time of Monomakhs's death, there had been only two main groups in the princely family, the Monomakhovichi and Olgovichi, but as the family proliferated, it broke up into a number of local branches and sub-branches.

He was canonized as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church and is commemorated on 15 April in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Family

In 1095, Mstislav married Princess Christina Ingesdotter of Sweden, daughter of King Inge I of Sweden. They had:

1. Ingeborg of Kiev, married Canute Lavard of Jutland, and was mother to Valdemar I of Denmark
2. Malmfred of Kiev, married (1) Sigurd I of Norway; (2) Eric II of Denmark
3. Eupraxia, married Alexius Comnenus, son of John II Comnenus
4. Vsevolod of Novgorod and Pskov
5. Maria Mstislavna of Kiev, married Vsevolod II of Kiev
6. Iziaslav II of Kiev
7. Rostislav of Kiev
8. Sviatopolk of Pskov
9. Rogneda, married Iaroslav Sviatopolkovich
10. Xenia, married Briachislav of Izyaslavl

Christine died on 18 January 1122. Later that year Mstislav married again, to Liubava Dmitrievna Zavidich, the daughter of Dmitry Zavidich, a nobleman of Novgorod. Their children were:

1. Vladimir III Mstislavich (1132–1171)
2. Euphrosyne of Kiev, (c. 1130 – c. 1193) married King Géza II of Hungary in 1146.

Notes

References

Sources

References

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3. "Святой благоверный великий князь Мстислав Владимирович + Православный Церковный календарь".
4. "Commemoration of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God and the deliverance of Moscow from the Invasion of Tamerlane".